Birding in Barrow Alaska

They sat like silent sentinels on hummocks way out on the tundra – each seemingly with its own territories. As I gazed through a scope, I could see the scattered brown flecks of the Snowy Owl’s summer plumage.
The opportunity to see these wonderful birds was one of my motivations to visit the [...]

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American Dipper – At Last

The American Dipper has managed to elude me for several years.
“While you were in the restroom,” my friend Barbara lamented sadly, “there was a dipper under the bridge.” It was early in January and we were at the Bosque del Apache. Dippers are not normally seen there. This was my [...]

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Birding the Interior of the Alaska on the the Denali Highway

The alpine tundra was spongy beneath my feet and rose up in clumps and mounds from the permafrost action. Occasionally I had to maneuver over or around dwarf birch bushes. I pulled the hood of my windbreaker over my fleece cap to block the chilly breeze against my neck. A thick fog [...]

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Birding Along the Glenn Highway at Sheep Mountain Lodge

I sat on the porch of cabin 5 at Sheep Mountain Lodge at milepost 113.5 on the Glenn Highway, a National Scenic Byway. It was sunny with moments of warmth between the cold gusts that had been blowing all day. The normal songs and chirps of warblers and sparrows were drowned out by [...]

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Viewing Alaska’s Marine Wildlife off the Coast of Seward

“There are orcas breaching at our location,” came the call over the radio. I was sitting next to Dan Olson, our captain on the Misty during our Kenai Fjords boat cruise. The morning had started with a drizzle and the weather had gotten worse all day. We were crossing 3 foot swells [...]

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